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Jonathan Bell Lovelace believed that fundamental research is essential to achieving superior long-term investment results. The small company he founded in 1931 has grown into one of the world’s most respected financial institutions.

Life at Capital Group

Meet Our Associates

In the year 2004, the television show Friends aired its final episode, and Mark Zuckerburg and his friends launched Facebook. It was also the year that a young Edward Garza had graduated from Texas A&M in Corpus Christi. Discouraged by what he felt were limited opportunities, Ed decided to move in with his parents, who were in San Antonio. As fate would have it, he landed his first job at Capital as an American Funds Shareholder Services Representative.

Capital was among 222 organizations that participated in the 2017 Women in the Workplace study, a landmark research initiative designed to help companies better understand the challenges facing working women in corporate America. Now in its third year, the study is a collaborative effort between LeanIn.Org—a nonprofit founded by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and McKinsey & Company.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Alissa Dodson is a career development star. The Los Angeles Office Services program manager has made it a practice to learn, explore, question, try, and reach for new positions during the course of her career with Capital Group. Here, she discusses the various roles she’s had and how she made her career moves, and shares her tips for staying passionate about one’s work. We think you’ll feel inspired!

Deidre Eason was quietly enjoying her vacation when a colleague texted to say her dream job—as a diversity and inclusion consultant—had just posted on Capital Group’s intranet. Deidre recalls the fateful moment: “My first thought was, ‘Really? I just left for vacation and now have no way to complete the application without my laptop!’”

Meeting planning coordinator Michael Tom began his career at Capital Group in 2008 as an Office Services intern in San Francisco, while he was a student majoring in hospitality management at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. So how did he move to his current role in Los Angeles organizing and supporting complex meetings for various fund boards and our investment business units?

Imagine getting up at 3:45 each morning to exercise at the gym before starting your workday at 6:30. Then putting in a full day on the job, before leaving at 3:30 to zoom home and prepare for four hours of college classes that night…and then spending the weekend studying and writing papers—plus caring for your almost-grown-but-still-at-home beloved son.

Capital Group recently received the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, and ranked 58th among Glassdoor’s 100 Best Places to Work for 2018. The recognition was driven solely by reviews submitted by current and former associates who rated our organization on eight workplace attributes (see below) and shared their perspectives on the pros and cons of working here. This is the first time we’ve received this honor.

Recently, nearly 50 associates gathered in Los Angeles for an afternoon of “speed networking” hosted by the CG NextGen Community. Participants, stationed across from one another at tables around the room, had three minutes to introduce themselves, highlight special skills and note career goals before moving on to different individuals. Needless to say, everyone talked fast!

How long does it take Capital Group associates to cycle more than 3,500 miles? Just one day, when they all work together. Recently, 140 CG associates from 12 CG offices got on their bikes and together cycled a combined 3,549 miles (5,712 km). That’s far enough to embark on a truly grand tour of Europe, cross the U.S., or—with a bit of imagination—travel from Singapore to Tokyo.

Do you want to improve your networking skills or enhance your personal brand? Would you like to know how your colleagues navigate their careers? This summer, nearly 900 Southern California Capital Group associates got a chance to explore such topics during the PowerUP Your Career! expo in our Irvine office. The one-of-a-kind week focused on career development, offering workshops, panel discussions, and networking events.

Want to know what it’s like to be a Capital Group Summer Associate? Spend time with four of them—Risa, Chris, Emily and Larry—as they share the impact of their projects and a few highlights from their time at Capital.

Over the past few years, Capital Group communities have been springing up all around. Often referred to as affinity or resource groups at other companies, there are more than 25 communities throughout Capital, and more than 2,500 associates are already involved with more communities coming soon.

Della Stott in our Indianapolis office is a fine example of an associate who takes full advantage of what Capital Group can do for one’s charitable giving passion. She’s been involved with the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, Central Indiana and Capital has made generous contributions to the foundation in support of Della’s efforts.

Sure, you know how old you are—and probably how tall—but what about those more elusive personal health numbers such as your blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose? Finding out where you stand on these numbers is a great opportunity to assess your overall health and wellness and, in some cases, identify health risks you may not be aware of.

Val Saber joined Capital Group in 1979 as an accountant. Based in Irvine, Val is now a Business Analyst for the broader Service organization. Across the floor in the same building sits Shina McAlister, who started recently as a Retirement Plan Services Representative. So, what would one of Capital’s most tenured associates—and one of our newest—have to say to one another about Capital, career development, and our core values? It turns out, quite a lot!

Senior order management analyst Charles Hassell has an infectious spirit of giving that’s legendary in Los Angeles. Recently, his giving spirit caught on in a big way, when nearly 200 associates participated in the sixth annual “Gobble Gobble Give” (G3) event. Each year, Southern California associates and their families gather on the morning of Thanksgiving to assemble meals and clothing/toiletry kits before distributing them to the underserved and homeless in surrounding Los Angeles neighborhoods.

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Capital Group at a Glance

About Us: Capital Group is a privately held company and is the home of American Funds, a family of more than 40 mutual funds. Our investment philosophy is based on bottom-up portfolio management and in-house research to achieve long-term investment results.

Headquarters: Los Angeles

Founded: 1931

Assets Under Management: US $1.4 trillion (December 31, 2016)

Employees: over 7,000 (July 2015)

Services: Capital Group provides a range of offerings for institutional clients and individual investors in the U.S. and globally. In addition, Capital offers private wealth management, private equity, and investment services for high net worth investors in the U.S. Read more.